B.C. election: What's happening today

The leaders of the four main parties in the provincial election: From left, Jane Sterk of the Green Party, Adrian Dix of the NDP, John Cummins of the Conservatives and Christy Clark of the Liberals squared off in a radio debate at CKNW in Vancouver Friday morning April 26, 2013. The debate was moderated by host Bill Good.

Photograph by: Jason Payne
, PNG

What's happening with the B.C. election? Check here for up-to-the-minute news about the parties, the candidate and the leaders as we head to May 14.Missed a story? Want to check something out? No worries - you can find everything you need to know on The Sun's B.C. Election microsite.

Sauder School says: The B.C. leaders debate Monday failed to sway sentiment in Sauder School's Election Prediction Markets, where traders are predicting the NDP will win 57 seats in the May 14 provincial election and the Liberals will trail with 20 seats.

"It was pretty much what people expected," said University of BC Sauder School professor Werner Antweiler, who designed the B.C. election prediction markets trading platform and who is director of the market. " . . . There was no knockout punch."

Google is getting a workout these days: Jane Shin, the NDP's choice in Burnaby-Lougheed, is the latest candidate to have her online remarks come back to haunt her.

On the gaming website, themachine.org, a user named Kirst commented on July 21, 2002 about UBC's plan to close her lab that September and added that a change of schools might be appropriate - possibly to the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

"it'd be heartbreaking leaving behind all the close circles of friends and networks in Vancouver to be some new kid in Edmonton, but it's lookin a bit better with few faces i've gotten to know," Shin, who has admitted to being the author, wrote on the website.

Then she added: "ps. . . . and i wasn't jokin when i said i'm fed up with the chinkasauruses roaming abouts in vancouver."Read the full story here.

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On the road again: Hoping to capitalize on the exposure from Monday night's television debate, Premier Christy Clark this morning launched a packed campaign tour that will hit 10 cities in three days.

"We've got some momentum here," Clark told her staff at the BC Liberal Party's war room in Vancouver before leaving for the airport.

Who won the TV debate? Vote in our poll. Did you watch the leaders' debate last night? According to an overnight poll of 385 B.C. residents, conducted by News1130 and Insights West, 68 per cent watched or listened to at least part of the debate.

Who won it? Well, that depends on who you talk to.

The Sun's Vaughn Palmer says that although Christy Clark was the most polished of the four leaders, Adrian Dix - who is looking more confident and premier-ly with every moment - was the clear winner. Click here to read Vaughn Palmer's column.

Op-ed: NDP leader Adrian Dix takes his turn on the Sun's opinion pages today with a piece on child poverty. In a province as rich as ours, high rates of poverty — particularly for children — are unacceptable, Dix says.

He adds: "As we attempt to build a more caring, compassionate society, we must protect our children and do all we can to give them a good start in life."

Sign of the times: While the party leaders do battle at campaign photo ops and the TV debates, the real war for votes is taking place on the doorstep as individual candidates make their case to voters and urge them, as a show of support, to put up a lawn sign.

Follow the leaders: We've been providing a daily summary of the leaders' itineraries in this election digest; now we've taken all of that info and displayed it on an interactive map as well as analyzed how those ridings have voted previously.

Where have Adrian Dix and Christy Clark been spending their campaigning hours? Vancouver, Burnaby and north Surrey are big hits with both leaders. In the Cariboo and Kootenays, however, they’ve been strictly no-shows.

In brief: Voters won't find the B.C. Conservative Party's name next to four candidates when casting their ballot May 14 after the party failed to file the proper paperwork. Read the story here.

In brief: It's totally within provincial election rules, but it's still a rare situation in the riding of Kamloops-North Thompson because none of the four candidates actually live within the riding boundaries. Read the story here.

1) The Vancouver Sun's live debate blog: Join Vancouver Sun reporters, editors and columnists as they weigh in on the exchanges between Christy Clark, Adrian Dix, John Cummins and Jane Sterk during the leaders' debate tonight.

2) The Spin Room: While party leaders spar in front the TV audience, each party's cadre of pundits and politicos will parse the details behind the scenes to provide real-time reality checks. The Sun's Spin Room will offer a glimpse of how the parties get their message out to try to counter the message of their opponents. Click here to go to The Spin Room.

In the video Popoff stands in a cow pasture, manoeuvring his way around the attentions of a frisky young bull and simultaneously proclaiming that he will not be bullied.

As the bull rubs its head along Popoff's backside and licks his pants, Popoff explains that he said the missing women's inquiry was a waste of time because no police officers were fired or even reprimanded.

Mea culpa: B.C. Premier Christy Clark faced a barrage of criticism for an incident reported by Jonathan Fowlie in his profile of the leader that ran in Saturday's Vancouver Sun. In the profile, Clark's 11-year-old son goads her into running a red light at an empty Vancouver intersection while driving him to a goalie clinic at 5:15 a.m.

What matters to you? A public dialogue sponsored by The Vancouver Sun and Simon Fraser University will bring together a diverse set of 36 people from across B.C. today to talk about election issues and help shape an idea of what matters most to British Columbians.

Led by SFU graduate students, three groups of participants will take part in separate conference calls this evening to discuss health care, resource extraction, education and transportation.

Rich vs poor, cyclists vs walkers and more: Reporter Chad Skelton's crunching of census data with voting patterns has found that ridings with lots of rich, married homeowners are more likely to vote Liberal, while those with poor, single renters tend to swing NDP.

And if you're looking for a riding that might tip Green? Keep your eye out for one with lots of divorced bike commuters.

Conservative candidates, in particular, could have benefitted from a course like this one, which will cover topics such as lawmaking, budgeting, media training, ethics, protocol and balancing political, personal and family life.

Riding profile: Vancouver-Fairview - a dynamic riding in the middle of city, ribboned with bike routes and key traffic corridors that cut through a dozen individual neighbourhoods from Main to Kitsilano, even a tony corner of Shaughnessy - is proving to be the least predictable seat in the region.

If I were elected B.C. premier: The Vancouver Sun invited the leaders of B.C.'s four main political parties to submit columns about what they see as the main election issues. These three were filed before the deadline:

On the environment: The environmental battle lines in British Columbia have historically shifted in patterns of their own. In this election, the issues continue to blur across party lines, says The Sun's Craig McInnes.

A slate in disarray: What the heck is going on with the BC Conservatives? Party leader John Cummins has just lost his fourth candidate: Ron Herbert - the candidate for Vancouver-West End - was fired for using a misogynistic and derogatory term on his personal Facebook and Twitter accounts to describe Premier Christy Clark and Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The senior volunteer responsible for vetting has also stepped down from his position, Cummins announced Sunday.

In recent days, Cummins has also dismissed Mischa Popoff in the Boundary-Similkameen riding for making derogatory comments about single mothers, as well as Ian Tootill in Vancouver-False Creek for his Twitter ramblings about Nazis and sluts.

Shortly before that, North Vancouver-Lonsdale candidate Jeff Sprague stepped down in the midst of a drunk driving investigation.

Opinion: Whoever wins the May 14 election must be prepared to fight the BANANA movement, says Vaughn Palmer.

Nope, not big groceries; BANANA is the acronym for "build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone," a sentiment that would appear to be manifesting itself with increasing regularity in British Columbia.

Toeing the party line: The theory is MPs and MLAs are elected to represent their riding. In reality, they stray from the party, caucus or cabinet line at their peril, says The Sun's Craig McInnes, who takes a look at the new film Whipped.

The economy, stupid: Legend has it that James Carville, campaign strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential run, posted a sign at campaign headquarters that succinctly set out the key messages: “Change versus more of the same; the economy, stupid; and don’t forget health care.”

These concepts transcend time and geography. They apply to most political campaigns in virtually all advanced democracies, including British Columbia.

Unfortunately for Christy Clark and her Liberals, Adrian Dix and the NDP have a headlock on the May 14 election simply by virtue of not being the incumbent.

Yes, the election matters: This election is more than just a decision about which political party is best equipped to run the province for the next four years. The next government will be setting a course for B.C.’s economic development for at least 20 years.

A large number of complex, expensive, long-term agenda-setting decisions await the next government, and will resonate in people’s lives and their wallets.

A passion for politics: You know it's a very different kind of family when an 11-year-old asks: "Mom, why haven't you done any political debates?" And when said mom's position in the polls is a cause for concern.

But for B.C. Liberal leader Christy Clark, it's all part and parcel of being a politician and a mother.

As the race to May 14 heats up, Sun reporter Jonathan Fowlie takes a look at the person behind the high-wattage smile, the political zeal, the unflagging high energy in the face of dismal ratings, and the factors that shaped Clark on her journey to the premier's office.

Clark's political inspiration and aspirations had their roots in family, beginning with her schoolteacher dad Jim Clark, a three-time failed candidate for provincial office.

From her parents, Clark says, she learned not only the importance of family ties, but also the value of taking a noble risk, and the merits of embracing fiscal prudence. Those lessons, she says, have guided her life both on and off the political stage.

And whatever the result on election day, Clark will have no regrets. "I stood my ground where I was comfortable, and where I believe."

Politics & Money, Part 5: Our series concludes today with a look at the laws governing political donations.

With B.C.'s two main political parties having opposite stances over the rules, there's a showdown brewing.

The NDP would ban corporate and union donations, and strike an all-party committee to consider other changes to how money is donated to the political process. The Liberals are against such bans, arguing they would require parties to rely on government subsidies funded by taxpayers.

Social media #fail: One would think that in a tech-savvy town like Vancouver, people would be all over the B.C. political leaders on Twitter. One would think.

But for whatever reason, it hasn't happened yet. There's certainly no shortage of hot topics, so is the reason just that we're still too far away from May 14? Or is it because politics tends to have a soporific effect on the electorate?

Simon Fraser University communications professor Peter Chow-White says he hasn't seen anything even remotely close to the Twitter buzz that U.S. President Obama elicited during both of his election campaigns.

Politics & Money, Part 4: Our series continues with a look at people who will donations to political parties.

Retired schoolteacher Evalyn Cheney, for example, left her entire fortune - all $632,719 of it - to the B.C. New Democratic Party. Cheney’s gift to the party was so large that it made her the sixth-largest donor overall to the NDP over the past eight years, dwarfing the contributions of big unions such as the Canadian Auto Workers and the International Association of Firefighters.

A look at Delta South: The knock against independent candidates is always that they have little clout without a party behind them – and it’s no different for popular Delta South incumbent Vicki Huntington.

“Unfortunately for Vicki, she doesn’t have a brand,” says NDP candidate Nic Slater, who’s buoyed by the fact his party is riding high in the polls. “She has her own personality, which I suppose is her brand in that respect, but that can only serve her to a certain point.”

An expensive numbers game: Vaughn Palmer has all guns blazing in his column today, headlined "B.C. Liberals and NDP compete for worst management of big public projects."

To wit:

- On the expansion of the Vancouver Convention Centre: "This will be on budget — count on it," vowed (then premier Gordon) Campbell, who was never more sure of his numbers than when he was wrong.

- On the final cost of the convention centre: Two years later, the project was actually finished for $841 million, 70-per-cent more than the initial costing. The Liberals claimed "savings" of $42 million, that being the dollar difference between the maximum approved overrun and the actual overrun. Folks, don't try this at home.

- And on the NDP's proposed sale of BC Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre: Dix speculates that the private sector might do better job than the public sector of managing both facilities, which is such a refreshing notion, coming from a New Democrat, that it would be interesting to see how it would play out.

Social media snapshot: Marketwired, powered by Sysomos has created two Twitter clouds from the #bcpoli hashtag.

This cloud is for the period between April 16 and noon today:

This is the Twitter cloud from the leaders' debate this morning:

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It's a money thing: B.C. Conservative Leader John Cummins said his party has done the best it could with the resources available to vet candidates, after being forced to drop three candidates in the first weeks of the campaign.

Survey says: With less than three weeks to go before the provincial election in B.C., the B.C. Liberals have improved their standing but public support for the NDP remains high, a new Angus Reid poll conducted with CTV and the Globe and Mail has found.

Across B.C., 45 per cent of decided voters and leaners (unchanged since mid-April) would cast a ballot for the NDP candidate in their riding if the provincial election were held tomorrow.

The Liberals are in second place with 31 per cent (+3), followed by the BC Conservatives with 11 per cent (-1) and the BC Greens with 10 per cent (-3).

The bucks stop here: In her column today, Sun columnist Barbara Yaffe counts the many ways NDP leader Adrian Dix has said no to economic development in B.C.:

There’s Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline. Expansion of Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain Pipeline. Tanker traffic off B.C.’s north coast. Coal exports out of West Coast ports. The new Raven coal mine on Vancouver Island. The Prosperity gold copper mine in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. BC Hydro’s Site C dam near Fort St. John. Dix has turned a thumbs-down to all.

If you’re looking for a job under an NDP government, Yaffe says, you might well be Alberta-bound.

#BCpoli battle: Sun technology writer Gillian Shaw says an analysis by Sysomos shows Premier Christy Clark getting the largest traction on social media, with 3,646 mentions in a measurement of social media activity, followed by NDP leader Adrian Dix at 3,178.

Another day, another dumped Tory candidate: Boundary-Similkameen Conservative candidate Mischa Popoff has been quick to defend some of his more outrageous statements in newspaper opinion columns, including one that warned children of single mothers are "headed for disaster."

Being a columnist is all about being provocative, he said; after all “If you’re not provocative, why bother writing?”

But it looks like his party doesn't have quite the same affection for provocation, and the Conservatives announced Thursday night that Popoff has been dropped from the party slate. "Mr. Popoff's various comments were insensitive and disrespectful, particularly to women and single mothers who are, in fact, heroes to their children and their communities in many cases," the party said in a written statement. Read the story here.

Related: Add Popoff's name to the list of Conservatives who've put foot in mouth and then been kicked to the curb. Just yesterday, Vancouver-False Creek candidate Ian Tootill was dismissed for some Twitter talk about Hitler, drugs and "sluts." Read that story here.

Related: And on April 16, the NDP dumped their Kelowna-Mission candidate for inflammatory comments she made on a chat forum. Read that story here.

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Prince George profile: Shirley Bond, the Liberal incumbent in Prince George-Valemount, says her city is better off today after 12 years of Liberal leadership.

But there are plenty of disenchanted voters who might beg to differ.

Critics point to the $25-million wood innovation centre that is finally going ahead, but only four years after it was first announced by the Liberals. And there are the forestry job losses – hundreds over the past decade – not to mention environmental concerns over Enbridge’s proposed $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline and lingering anger over the HST.

Collectively, the issues set the stage for a tough battle for the Liberals in the two north-central B.C. ridings they have held for more than a decade.

Vaughn Palmer to NDP: Your complete platform is incomplete: The New Democrats finally got around to releasing their complete election platform Wednesday, showing a predictable combination of more spending, more taxes and more deficits, says the Sun's Vaughn Palmer.

Taking those in reverse order, the deficits are projected to total $2 billion over three years, with the New Democrats intending to blame every drop of red ink on the B.C. Liberals for the supposedly "unrealistic" targets in their three-year fiscal plan.

But the details that have been released don't tell the whole story, and the numbers that have been shared just give rise to new questions.

Need cash, must sell fast: Adrian Dix's proposal to put BC Place up for sale was the big talker of the day from the moment the NDP leader made his announcement while standing in front of the stadium.

The NDP would also consider selling the Vancouver Convention Centre, Dix said.

"When the operation of a facility draws tens of millions of dollars in public subsidy every year, and has left taxpayers with a mountain of debt, I believe we have to take a close look at whether that's a business we should be in," Dix said.

Premier Christy Clark immediately panned the plan, saying she believes Dix is making up policy on the fly.

"(The) first thing I thought when I heard this was somebody better stop handing Adrian Dix napkins because every time he gets one, he writes a new policy on the back of it."

Related:What does the owner of the BC Lions think of the plan? "You're never going to sell it for the money it's worth to the government," Sen. David Braley said. "You might not get $300 million or even $200 million. All the value is in the lands around it for development. Period."

Pick your poison: When it comes to the tax promises of the two mainstream parties, British Columbians are confronted with a choice, as it were, between higher taxes or even higher taxes, says Charles Lammam, associate director of tax and budget policy research at the Fraser Institute.

In fact, both parties offer plans that fly in the face of what is needed to attract professionals and jobs.

And right back at ya: It took longer than we thought it would, but the NDP have responded to the Liberals' Spend-o-Meter with a "Debt-O-Meter."

"In two years since becoming Premier, Christy Clark has added $11 billion to the debt and plans to add another $13 billion over the next three years," the NDP fumed in a press release Wednesday. "In total Christy Clark will have increased the B.C. debt by 54% - a total of $24.3 billion."

Starting today, the Debt-O-Meter will appear on roadside electronic billboards around B.C. and online, the NDP announced. This first one, naturally, is on the same billboard as the Liberals' Spend-o-Meter. Read the Spend-o-Meter story here.

"Who's really to blame? Hitler or the people who acted on his words?" Tootill asked last October.

Then in 2011: " ... We men love sluts ..."

And in January: "Call me simplistic but I agree with Ron Paul. Drugs should be legalized. All drugs, not just pot. No slope then."

Tootill attributed the comments to his "edgy sense of humour," but Conservative leader John Cummins didn't find them funny at all and gave Tootill the boot.

"Mr. Tootill's comments are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the BC Conservative party," Cummins said in a press release. "We are a party that believes in a respectful airing of views. Mr. Tootill's statements are unacceptable and downright shameful. He has been fired as a candidate."

On April 16, the NDP dumped their Kelowna-Mission candidate for inflammatory comments she made on a chat forum. Read that story here.

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The money behind the NDP: It's well-known that unions are big supporters of the NDP, just as corporations bankroll the B.C. Liberals.

If the B.C. NDP wins the next election, one of the many challenges Premier Adrian Dix will face will be reaching a new collective agreement with his biggest political benefactor.

Pipeline politics: Process, not politics, should determine fate of pipeline expansion, Kinder Morgan president says. Read the full story here.

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All eyes on Point Grey: Look at this riding and a host of issues come to mind.

For starters, there's the proposed rapid transit line to UBC that cuts through the riding. The tankers that Kinder Morgan wants to use to ship oil to China sail right offshore. And Point Grey's aging demographic and the vast number of rental suites point to complex societal issues such as health care, job creation and the economy.

And then there are the two main candidates. In 2011, the New Democrats' David Eby came within 564 votes of knocking off new Premier Christy Clark in a byelection. Now, with Clark's Liberals mired in controversy and low in the polls, is Point Grey Eby's to lose?

This time, it's war: Adrian Dix's strategy in the 2013 election is to decimate his opponents, thus (he hopes) paving his way to a second term.

So don't expect to see Dix playing Mr. Nice Guy, spotting the other team a few seats or setting modest goals, says Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer. That tactic might once have been viewed as realistic and achievable, but it also had the effect of lowering party expectations and morale.

Dix's actions in this campaign have shown he is playing not just to win, but to steamroller the Liberals.

No big-ticket health items: Having already spent much of the $2 billion his party allotted for new promises this election, NDP leader Adrian Dix rolled out a modest plan for health reform Tuesday, with policies that focus heavily on community-based supports.

"This plan does not have big-ticket items, but it does what is necessary," Dix told a crowd of supporters at a seniors' centre in the Vancouver-based riding of Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid.

Finance series (first of two parts): A route to a balanced budget requires long-term vision, and tough issues await the next B.C. government. Read Don Cayo's column here.

Finance series (second of two parts): B.C.'s two major political parties have limited their options too narrowly when it comes to future tax increases, says Seth Klein, B.C. director of the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Read Don Cayo's column here.

In brief: The BC Conservatives have announced that Bill Clarke will be their candidate in Vancouver-Quilchena.

Clarke, 79, a retired chartered accountant who lives in Quilchena with his wife Janis, was elected four times as an MP for Vancouver Quadra, in 1972, 1974, 1979 and 1980. In the 1984 federal election, Clarke was defeated by John Turner, leader of the Liberal party. Clarke made two unsuccessful attempts to regain Vancouver Quadra, in 1988 and 2000.

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A campaign on candid camera: The B.C. election campaign is being documented not just by professional photographers but by reporters, public relations staff and just plain ol' supporters squeezing off shots with their phones.

Here's a gallery of some of the best photos of Liberal leader Christy Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix so far.

The photos of Clark are from Twitter; the photos of Dix are all from Vancouver Sun political reporter Jonathan Fowlie, who's shooting with his iPhone 5. Fowlie will continue to capture moments from the campaign trail and post the photos to his Instagram account.

A matter of political expediency: Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer has never been one to pull his punches, and he lets NDP leader Adrian Dix have it with both barrels over his sudden flip-flop on the Kinder Morgan twinning proposal.

Having reversed his position, Dix then continues to maintain the guise of open-mindedness by telling reporters that "of course we have to wait and see a formal application."

If the NDP were to win the election, says Palmer, Kinder Morgan would surely be inclined to take its billions to a more receptive audience.

The list of the top 20 donors to the B.C. Liberal Party reads like a who's who of the mining, forestry, retail investment and building sectors. Mining behemoth Teck Resources was No. 1, followed by the New Car Dealers Association of B.C., and oil and natural gas giant Encana.

Want to know who's donating big bucks to politics and how much they've given?

Centrepiece issue: B.C. New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix's criticism Monday of Kinder Morgan's proposed $5.4-billion oil pipeline marks the latest twist in an election campaign that, for the first time in B.C.'s modern history, has the oil-and-gas industry emerging as a centrepiece issue.

Riding profile: Abbotsford South has always been a Liberal stronghold, but candidates there can sense the winds of change in the air.

John van Dongen, who has won five straight elections since 1995, left the Liberals for the Conservatives in March 2012, and then split with the Conservatives to sit as an independent in September 2012.

Liberal candidate Darryl Plecas likes to point out that van Dongen has also belonged to the Social Credit and NDP parties. "Like, he's had five jerseys on, you know?"

Unlikely as it might have seemed a couple of years ago, the NDP's Lakhvinder Jhaj could wind up the beneficiary of a three-way split.

2 p.m.: Victoria - Meet and greet at Federation of Community Social Services of BC

6:30 p.m.: Victoria - Interview on Global TV

7:30 p.m.: Victoria - Monday Magazine 'M Awards'

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April 22

Balanced budget promised: A Liberal government will bring in a balanced budget, with a debt-free B.C. to follow, the party's leader says.

Premier Christy Clark acknowledged Monday on CKNW'S Bill Good Show that many people might be skeptical about her claims. But the bond rating agencies, such as Moody's and Standard & Poor's, are behind her government's claims that the budget is balanced, Clark said.

If burger lovers were deciding the election:Burger Heaven restaurant in New Westminster, in addition to serving fabulous hamburgers, runs a political poll of sorts during every election - patrons vote for their party via their choice of hamburger.

Here's how the patties stacked up as of 11 a.m. on Monday. The restaurant updates its patty poll daily.

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Kinder Morgan pipeline: New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix has shut the door almost entirely on a proposed twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline from Alberta into Burnaby, saying an NDP government would not support a major increase of tanker traffic in and out of Metro Vancouver.

- Liberal leader Christy Clark says northern B.C. is booming again and a Liberal government will make sure the communities that will pay the price for that boom will collect some of the cash. Read the full story here.

- The B.C. Conservative party has introduced nine new candidates in ridings around the province. Read the full story here.

- Christy Clark reiterated her support for a multi-billion-dollar oil refinery project proposed by newspaper magnate David Black. Read the full story here.

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Is anyone monitoring the Rhetoric-o-Meter? It's getting nastier on the campaign trail - but oh, what fun for voters!

Incensed by the NDP's spending promises, the Liberals have unveiled a "Spend-o-Meter" that they say will keep track of the money being spent. The Spend-o-Meter can currently be seen on an electronic billboard above Highway 91 in Delta as well as on the Liberals' website.

"In a few short days, (leader Adrian Dix) has gone from the one-billion-dollar man to the two-billion-dollar man," Finance Minister Mike de Jong scowled at a press conference on Sunday. "Speed kills and the NDP is speeding towards a cliff that will send the B.C. economy right over the edge."

Not to be outdone, NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston turned the spotlight back on the Liberals. "This government has brought in the biggest increase in the debt in the history of British Columbia, and five deficit budgets in a row," Ralston countered. "Mr. de Jong should reflect on the Liberal record."

The NDP's press office then issued a news release decrying the Liberals' "Say-Anything-o-Meter" tactic, accusing the party of distorting facts and figures to suit their own purposes.

$24 million for agriculture: NDP leader Adrian Dix has announced a suite of boutique policy changes aimed at helping the province's agricultural sector.

Dix said the promises - which would cost $24 million over three years - would include reviving the Buy BC program first introduced by the New Democrats in the 1990s, but cancelled by the BC Liberals in 2001.

See how she runs: Liberal leader Christy Clark laced up to run a different kind of race on Sunday - the Vancouver Sun Run.

Along with nearly 50,000 other runners, Clark and several Liberal candidates jogged the 10K route before meeting with the media around 10:15 a.m. There was no word from her office as to Clark's race time, but we were told that the premier started training in the fall and tries to squeeze in at least 30 minutes of exercise six days each week, listening to music as she jogs.

Rate hike the big issue: Four issues are likely to dominate when the political debate in the next few weeks turns to BC Hydro. The big issue for consumers is the potential for a big jump in electricity rates regardless of who wins the next election.

A lowdown shakedown? The B.C. Liberals are demanding the NDP fire its provincial secretary over letters the Liberals say amount to a "shakedown" of Liberal party supporters.

The Liberals say they have obtained letters sent by the NDP that show the party has specifically approached Liberal supporters to ask for contributions for New Democrats. Finance Minister Mike de Jong said in a statement the letters amount to "nothing more than a lowdown shakedown."

But NDP leader Adrian Dix said the party has done nothing wrong by approaching people who have given the Liberals support in the past.

And on a lighter note: If this election were being waged along sartorial lines, Premier Christy Clark's ensemble at the Vaisakhi Parade would catapult her to victory. She was one of three political leaders to attend the Surrey event Saturday and the only one to totally rock her outfit, a Tiffany blue kameez and churidar ensemble.

NDP Leader Adrian Dix, meanwhile, was clad in a sombre suit given a slight colour boost by one of the burnt orange ties he favours. Conservative leader John Cummins was also skedded to attend Vaisakhi, while Green Party leader Jane Sterk stayed on the Island to do some canvassing.

It’s all about the subtext: What’s the story behind leader Adrian Dix’s decision to kick off the NDP’s campaign in Vancouver-Point Grey? Why did Christy Clark and Liberals release their juicy tidbit about the NDP’s Kelowna-Mission candidate Dayleen Van Ryswyk when they did? Why did both leaders visit the ridings they did?

As Week 1 of the B.C. election campaign draws to a close, Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer examines Dix’s and Clark’s opening salvos, as well as what they really signify.

Behind the rhetoric, the photo ops and the sound bites that the public sees, says Palmer, there is some hardball politicking going on.

Dix deconstructed: He's sometimes awkward, a bit of an introvert and just about always serious - that much we could probably glean just by watching Adrian Dix on TV.

But Sun political reporter Jonathan Fowlie's fascinating profile of the NDP leader takes readers far beyond the public persona.

Dix is a complex, fiercely private person - a family man who's devoted to his wife; a diabetic who shrugs off his disease, working regular injections into gruelling 12-hour-plus days; a highly intelligent trivia buff who could probably crush most opponents in a game of Trivial Pursuit.

To spend a day with Dix is to be both humbled and exhausted by references to literature, sports, politics and pop culture, Fowlie says.

The leaders' spiritual side: We've heard plenty about platforms and programs and promises from the two major political leaders during the election campaign thus far, but there's been practically nothing written about the spiritual facets of Christy Clark and Adrian Dix.

Enter The Sun's religion writer Doug Todd, who has interviewed both in the past, and writes now about their spiritual and ethical convictions.

For NDP leader Dix, inspiration comes from his late father-in-law, United Church Rev. Vasant Saklikar. "He was an extraordinary man," Dix told Todd. "I respect people's different religious beliefs, yet he saw in Christianity a vision for social justice."

Meanwhile, Clark emphasized she would like to see religious groups, such as the Salvation Army, far more involved in delivering B.C. social services. "I think we should be doing much, much more to involve faith communities in the work that government does, to serve the people," Clark said.

Welfare recipients, families to benefit: The NDP has promised to raise welfare rates and implement a family bonus program. Leader Adrian Dix says the party will fund many of its proposed changes via tax hikes for corporate, bank and high income earners.

A study in cunning: The New Democrats have been promising for a couple of years now that before B.C. votes, the electorate will know exactly what the party will do if it is elected. But their words have been at odds with their actions. Rather than offering specifics, the party has instead proposed open-ended reviews of a number of issues that are critical to British Columbians.

Fracking in the natural gas sector? Leader Adrian Dix wants a full scientific review of the process.

Dude! Where's my ballot?: Are there votes to be had by a B.C. political party that supports the taxation and regulation of marijuana? Yes, according to a new Angus Reid poll that shows 73 per cent of respondents support the idea of a pilot study to evaluate the legalization of cannabis for adults.

As well, 44 per cent of respondents said their perception of a provincial political party would improve if it supported a trial of this nature, compared with 33 per cent who say their opinion would be unchanged and just 12 per cent who said their opinion would worsen.

"Consistently, our polling results are showing the public is demanding a new approach and turning away from strategies like mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana offences," said Mario Canseco of Angus Reid Public Opinion.

"I came looking for your platform because I couldn't find it," McRae quipped, referring to claims that the NDP has been campaigning on a hidden platform.

"It's good to see you. Take care," Dix replied. "It's a nice-looking shirt you have on, but I'm not too sure about the jacket you have on." McRae was wearing a B.C. Liberals campaign jacket.

Before the exchange of jibes, Dix released a key policy plank for his party, announcing the NDP will spend $372 million over three years to improve public education in B.C.

Another $300 million that is sitting in the current Liberal government's RESP fund will be set aside for use in other issues involving children, said Dix - who then got the gears from a CTV reporter about exactly how the money will be spent.

Lobbyist series: Deputy Premier Rich Coleman isn't surprised to find out that he is lobbied more often than his boss, Premier Christy Clark - after all, it is awfully tough getting a meeting with the premier - though he does admit that he didn't expect his numbers to be so high.

"It's a busy portfolio," said Coleman, who is Minister of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas. "There are a lot of government relations people specifically in the oil and gas sector. And I'd imagine they'd all be registered."

And as minister responsible for liquor and gambling, Coleman has had many meetings with people in those industries, too.

If you're curious about who is lobbying Coleman and other politicians, and the frequency with which the requests are made, you'll find our three-part series on lobbyists to be a real eye-opener. Part 1 launches today.

Nurses' reclassification: Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer doesn't think much of the B.C. Liberals' eagerness to sign off on a cabinet order that reclassified some members of the nursing profession, to the benefit of the nurses' union and the detriment of other public sector unions.

Palmer says the decision was expensive, rushed and potentially disruptive - but no matter. In a bid to get more votes, the Liberals were willing to ignore the concerns of the health regions, due process and the fact that their decision could add $10 million annually to health care costs.

First nations furor: The official election campaign was barely hours old when it claimed its first casualty: Kelowna-Mission NDP nominee Dayleen Van Ryswyk, who was turfed by her party for online posts she'd made railing against ongoing funding to first nations people.

Ignorant, intemperate, ill-advised? Yes, all of the above. But Sun columnist Craig McInnes says it's a leap from being a poor fit for a political party to a judgment that a strongly held view should never be expressed.

Saanich North and the Islands: Green Party members in Saanich North and the Islands are hoping that the 2011 election federally of MP Elizabeth May was a harbinger of good things to come in the 2013 provincial election.

Add to that the fact that Saanich North's Liberal incumbent is retiring and it's clear why Adam Olsen, the Green's provincial candidate, describes his riding as "phenomenally interesting."

Surrey, Chilliwack, Merritt, Kamloops: It was a busy day for Premier Christy Clark, who was on the road Wednesday shoring up support for her party in bellwether ridings. The B.C. Liberal leader started her day at 8 a.m. at De Dutch restaurant in Surrey before heading to Chilliwack and then Merritt. Clark was set to finish her day with a 5:45 p.m. campaign rally in Kamloops. Through all of her stops, Clark talked jobs and deficit reduction, upbeat despite recent polls that show her party is trailing the NDP.

"I believe we can grow the number of seats we have, because the people in Chilliwack and the people in Merritt ... want to grow the economy," Clark said outside Langley Concrete, a plant she said will be building infrastructure for the liquefied natural gas plants planned for northern B.C.

Coming Thursday in The Sun: Who are the most lobbied politicians in Victoria? Which companies are doing the lobbying? And what are they trying to get out of government?

The Sun has gained exclusive access to the raw data that powers the B.C. Lobbyist Registry. A comprehensive analysis of that data reveals - for the first time - an unprecedented look into the mysterious world of lobbyists.

Don't miss reporter Chad Skelton's series of stories and interactive graphics that will provide readers with a startling look at who's trying to influence their elected leaders.

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Swing ridings: Surrey-Panorama, Vancouver-Point Grey, Burnaby North - these are just three of 12 swing ridings in B.C. that The Vancouver Sun has identified as the ones to watch in the May 14 election.

If you're curious to know where the votes were cast and who won the 12 ridings in the 2009 election, check out The Sun's interactive riding maps here.

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Ferries, student grants promises: Good news for students and ferry riders if the NDP are elected - leader Adrian Dix says his government will freeze BC Ferries rates starting next year and also audit the company. Meanwhile, students could receive up to $1,500, part of a $226-million grants program being promised by the NDP.

A study of two leaders: Martyn Brown, former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell's long-serving chief of staff, strategic advisor to three provincial party leaders, and a former deputy minister of Tourism, Trade & Investment in B.C., has written a thought-provoking piece in today's op-ed pages.

In it, he opines that Premier Christy Clark is seen as someone who lacks the gravitas, policy rigour and authenticity of a serious leader. In the NDP's Adrian Dix, meanwhile, Brown sees a leader who's poised to form the next government.

Premier Adrian Dix? Ottawa wouldn't like that: Brrrr, what's that chill coming in from the east? The Sun's Barbara Yaffe says we should get set for frosty relations with Ottawa should NDP leader Adrian Dix become premier of B.C.

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a real low-key approach to dealing with the provinces, it's clear that he enjoyed working with former Liberal premier Gordon Campbell - and as a result, B.C. benefited from Ottawa's largesse.

Dix, meanwhile, has indicated he won't be as eager to accept Harper's policies.

“It is my intention to have a business-like relationship with whoever is prime minister, whether that’s Mr. Harper or Mr. (Thomas) Mulcair," Dix has said. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to accept everything the federal government says on every issue.”

What not to do: During the 1996 provincial election, NDP leader Adrian Dix’s mentor, then-premier Glen Clark, was all bluster and hyperbole. Today, Clark would scoff at Dix's modest and realistic proposals for the forest industry. But Dix learned a lot from watching Clark - and not least when to avoid following his bad example.

Chilliwack-Hope: In last year's byelection in Chilliwack-Hope, New Democrat Gwen O’Mahony cruised to victory right up the middle of a right-wing split ... true? Not true, according to Paul Boileau, a member of Chilliwack’s Chamber of Commerce and manager of a manufacturing company.

Survey says: Two polls released Tuesday show the NDP with a wide lead over the Liberals. A survey conducted by Ipsos Reid between last Thursday and this past Monday found that 48 per cent of decided voters support the New Democrats, compared with just 29 per cent who support the B.C. Liberals. The 19-point gap is the same margin that separated the two parties in an Ipsos Reid poll conducted in March. Read more here.

Meanwhile, Angus Reid's latest numbers show the B.C. New Democrats with a 17-point lead over the Liberals. Three out of five respondents said it's time for a new party to form the government, according to an Angus Reid online survey of 804 B.C. adults. The poll was conducted in partnership with CTV and the Globe and Mail. Read more about the Angus Reid poll here.

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The first flap: Well, it didn't take long for the first scandal to emerge. The New Democratic Party has been forced to dump Dayleen Van Ryswyk, its candidate in Kelowna-Mission, less than two hours into the provincial election, after her Castanet blog post about the first nations came to light.

"It's not the status cards, it's the fact that we have been paying out of the nose for generations for something that isn't our doing," Van Ryswyk wrote. "If their ancestors sold out too cheaply, it's not my fault and I shouldn't have to be paying for any mistake or whatever you want to call it from MY hard earned money."

And they're off: It's official: Premier Christy Clark kicked off the election campaign this morning, calling it the "most important election in modern history."

"British Columbia is at a crossroads, with two very different choices in front of us," she said, after meeting with Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon to issue the writs of election. The election will take place on May 14.

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The leaders of the four main parties in the provincial election: From left, Jane Sterk of the Green Party, Adrian Dix of the NDP, John Cummins of the Conservatives and Christy Clark of the Liberals squared off in a radio debate at CKNW in Vancouver Friday morning April 26, 2013. The debate was moderated by host Bill Good.

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